


The Boy with the Clockwork Wings

by skeletonsmama



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Steampunk, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-20
Updated: 2013-08-20
Packaged: 2017-12-24 02:29:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/934127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skeletonsmama/pseuds/skeletonsmama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel wants to fly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Boy with the Clockwork Wings

**Author's Note:**

> posting spn fic more like what  
> i wrote this for english about a year ago and it didn't turn out half bad, so here we are...  
> have some steampunk au because i can~~  
> Also this was beta'd by the lovely Emily, tinku darling ^_^

His wings were made from metal and leather. Gears and wire all held together, the harness bearing the weight steady on his back. Castiel stepped onto the railing of the balcony, arms spreading like the wings behind him, and shut his eyes.

 

 

  
***

  
_Several Hours Earlier_

“Dean, I believe I’ve finally completed all the necessary work on the wings. They are finished.” Dean looked up briefly from his beaker, flashing Castiel a wide smile.

  
“You gonna bring ‘em round?”

  
Castiel shook his head. “They are, unfortunately, too large to fit through your door frame at present. Perhaps you could come around later?” Dean nodded, still looking intently into his beaker. He made a motion at Castiel and muttered three, eight and forty-five, and Castiel handed him the corresponding ingredients. Dean added each to the beaker, face lighting up even wider as the liquid inside turned a bright shade of blue.

  
“Here,” Dean said, holding it out to Castiel, “as a…well done. Hell, you deserve 10 o’ these and that still wouldn’ be well done enough, but…”  
  
“I understand. Thank you Dean, thank you very much.” Castiel gulped down the contents of the beaker, smile forming on his normally-serious face. “I must go back now. They may be complete, but there is still much work to be done, testing and tweaking and all that. Thank you, once again.”

  
Dean tipped an imaginary hat, “see you later Cas.” Castiel left Dean’s shop, the elation and happiness that he normally could not achieve on his own terms spreading through him, buzzing from his fingers to the top of his head and down his spine and back again.

  
“Like a bee!” he exclaimed suddenly, and giggled, before what remained of his common sense checked the street for other people, ready to sprint back to his house. Finding it deserted, the effects of the potion growing stronger. It was a rare treat, such freedom and joy. Dean had come up with the potion especially for him, stating he needed to ‘lighten up a little, you ole stoneface’. He’d been so pleased when the potion had worked, turning the normally fairly stiff Castiel into what he’d once been; carefree, happy, unaffected by the woes of the world. Castiel had gone home that night smiling and when he dropped by the shop in the morning he seemed ever so slightly happier, and to Dean, he considered the job well done.

  
However, there was a side effect of the potion Castiel had not yet informed him of. What goes up must, of course, come down, and the crash from the potion was painful. He’d spent the night wracked with night terrors, twisting his sheets into knots. Memories Castiel tried so hard to keep buried were brought to the surface, teasing, taunting, torturing him until his screams turned to whimpers echoed by the empty house.

  
But as Castiel had looked back on it the next morning, he decided the high was well worth the price of the low. He didn’t have to tell Dean. Heck, he didn’t have the heart to tell Dean, with the look on his face when Castiel had been so happy again. If Dean found out about the after effects, well, Castiel didn’t want to know. _  
_ Castiel arrived home, and he could feel the potions buzz wearing off. He lay down to sleep, dreading the night ahead.

 

 

_***_

  
_“You can fly Cas,” his mother says, lifting Castiel above her and spinning._

  
_“I can fly Mummy, I can fly!”_

 

 

_  
***_

_“Lucifer! Lucifer come back!” The boy ahead of him spun, backing Castiel up against a wall._

_  
“Come back to what Castiel? A life without Mother, left with only you, the family embarrassment, and your pathetic desire to_ fly _? No. Leave me alone Castiel. Don’t come looking.”_

 

 

_  
***_

  
_“You think you can do it?” Dean is doing an impressive job of keeping his surprise hidden._

  
_“Yes. Are you aware of any one in the field willing to take on an apprentice?”_

  
_“I’ll get my old man to ask around…anythin’ I can do to help.”_

  
_“Thank you.”_

 

 

_***_

  
Castiel woke with a start. The memories played close to the surface of his mind and for the first time in years, he remembered why he wanted to fly.  
His wings were made from metal and leather. Gears and leather and wire all held together, the harness bearing the weight steady on his back. Castiel stepped onto the railing of the balcony, arms spreading like the wings behind him, and shut his eyes.

 _  
_“Time to fly,” he whispered, as he let his body tip forward. Then there was a hand on his ankle, a scream of “No!” accompanied by a violent jerk backwards. Castiel’s stomach scrapped across the iron rail and he growled, twisting his body trying to loosen his captors grip. It still managed to pull him back onto the balcony, proceeding to pin him down and force something onto his lips.

  
“Cas, oh Cas here, just drink this, _please Castiel_.” The liquid felt like fire against his numb lips, and feeling spread back into his frozen limbs. Castiel blinked as if awakening from a deep sleep, Dean’s face above him.

  
“Wha-what am I doing here? Are these m-my wings?!” said Castiel.

  
 Dean was stronger than he looked as he kept Castiel pinned through the next desperate scramble. “Slow down there Cas, I…there’s somthin’ I gotta tell you ‘bout that potion…got here just in time too, it seems…”

Dean explained what Castiel already knew- the crash from that potion could actually turn out deadly, as Dean had discovered in just in time.

  
“I’m so sorry Cas. I didn’t, I didn’t even think to test of it, I just thought you were so happy for once and-“

  
“I forgive you Dean. Please, calm yourself. Perhaps you could assist me in treating the injuries I may have just received?”

  
“Sure thing. Up you come.” Dean helped Castiel to his feet, and carefully unstrapped the wings from Castiel’s back, leaving them on the balcony and ushering Castiel inside. “Promise you’ll lemme know next time summin’ goes wrong, okay?”

  
Castiel nodded, “I promise Dean. I apologise for not informing you sooner. The potion just…it made me feel happy once again.”

  
“Hey, you don’ have to apologise to me. ‘Smy fault anyways. C’mon now, though, you should get some sleep. The neutralising mix tends to make you drowsy.”

  
 “I think I will do that now. Goodnight Dean.”

  
“G’Night Cas.”


End file.
